Letter: European travesty

Sir: The forthcoming European elections are a travesty of democracy. The European Parliament is not accountable to the British people and the European Commission is certainly not accountable to it.

The link between the elector and candidate has been broken by the closed list system. The electorate will be voting for political parties, not people, to represent them and the representatives will be chosen by a handful of party apparatchiks. Therefore, MEPs will not be responsible for their actions to the electors whom they are supposed to represent, but to party hierarchies who will be able to decide whether or not they retain their seats at the next election. This system continues the insidious process of decreasing the involvement of the voters in the electoral process and is a monstrous stain on our nation's proud heritage of democratic accountability.

The question of whether Britain joins "Euroland" will be a major issue. If Britain loses control of her economic and monetary policy, a future as a mere province of a federal or unitary European state becomes inevitable. I urge all voters who wish to participate in the European elections to oppose those who advocate scrapping the pound and adopting the euro. All parties should be questioned about their position on this crucial issue.

Lord STODDART OF SWINDON

Chairman, Campaign for an Independent Britain

House of Lords